Retaining or releasing means for load-binding chains or cables.



N0. 730,836. PATENTED JUNE 9,1903.

D. NMGLAUGHLIN- v RETAINING 0R RELEASING MEANS FOR LOAD BINDING GEHAINS 0R GABLES.

APPLIGATIONIILBD OCT. 18, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented June 9, 1903.

PATENT FFIcE'.

DAVID MCLAUGI-ILIN, OF DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

RETAINING OR RELEASINGMEA NSIOR LOAD-BINDING CHAINS OR CABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 730,836, dated June 9, 1903. Application filed October 18,1902. Serial No. 127,786. (1101110161.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID MCLAUGHLIN, a citizen of the United'States, residing at Du-. luth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Retaining or Releasin g Means for Load-Binding Chains or Cables and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to-make and use the same.

My invention relates to retaining and releasing means for load-binding chains or cables, and is especially adapted for use on cars or vehicles. It has for its object the provision of means by which the ends of said chains or cables may be securely anchored during the transportation of the load and either or both of them released by an operator occupying a position of safety when desired to debark the load.

It consists, in combination with a suitable support, of a bracket secured thereto, a shaft journaled in said bracket, a collar rigidly secured to said shaft and provided with a lip, a tongue pivoted at one end to said bracket and adapted in operative position to have its opposite end engage said lip, and means for locking said shaft in operativeposition against revolution.

It also comprises certain other constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of my said invention, showing the terminal of a binding-chain engaged thereby. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of my said invention. I

In the drawings, 1 is the longitudinal sill of a car, to which is secured a bracket 2, in which is journaled a shaft 3, provided with a rigidly-fixed collar 4, formed with a lip 5, adapted in operative position to engage the free lower end of a tongue 6, the upper end of which is enlarged and pivoted to said bracket by a bolt 7, which tongue is approxi mately of the contour of a comma and is adapted near its pivoted end when in operative position to engage a link or terminal hook or ring 8 of aload-binding chain or cable. Project-' ing forwardfrom the rear Wall of said bracket .1 preferably provide a hook 9, adapted to suspend said ring 8'when said binding-chain is slack or displaced. Said bracket 2 may be secured to the sill of said car by bolts 10 ,or any other suitable and convenient means. An operating lever 11, preferably located near the end of the car, is rigidly secured to said shaft 3 and in operative position is secured against movement by a latch 12, secured at one end to the car by a staple 13 and adapted to pass in front of said lever and to rest at its free end in a hook 14, projecting from said car. One or more straps or brackets 15 may, if desired, be provided for further supports for said shaft 3. Similar means may be provided, if desired, on each side of the car.

In operation the binding-chain is carried over the load from one side of the vehicle to the other and either one or both ends secured by my said retaining means. The slack of the chain is then, if desired,taken up in any suitable and convenient manner, as by Wedging or by weighting the center to depress it into a valley formed in the top of load at right angles to the chain. It will be observed that any upward strain on the chain causes the lower end of said tongue 6 to press against the lip 5, tending to force the same outward, and thus rotate the shaft 3, which rotation is prevented, as aforesaid. When it is desired to release said load, the operator standing at the end of the car strikes upward the latch 12, freeing it from said hook 14, thereby releasing said operating-lever. The pressure of said tongue against said lip now compels the partial revolution'of said shaft and the turning away of said lip from operative position, thus releasing the lower end. of said tongue, which swings upward, permitting the terminal of said chain to slip from it, thus releasing the load. It is obvious that'said construction, especially of said operating-lever and said latch, may be altered or modified in minor details within the scope of my said invention, and, if desired, a padlock or seal or. other suitable keeper may be attached to said latch to prevent unauthorized releasing of the same, which keeper is, however, not regarded as a part of my said invention.

Having now described my invention, what- I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In means for the purposes described, the combination with a vehicle of a bracket secured to the side thereof, a tongue pivoted at its upper end to said bracket and adapted to engage a terminal of a wrapper-chain, a shaft journaled in a support secured to said vehicle, and having a collar secured thereto,

formed with a radially-projecting lip, adapted in operation to engage the free end of said tongue, means for operating said shaft and means for locking the same in operative position, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a vehicle of a bracket secured to the side thereof, a tongue pivoted at its upper end to said bracket and normally directed downwardly and formed with a curve in itsshank portion adapted'to, engage a terminalloop in flexible load-binding means, a shaft journaled in supports secured to said vehicle and provided with projecting means adapted in operation t-obear against the free end of said tongue to pre of said tongue, and a hook projecting from the rear of said bracket toward said tongue, below the pivotal point thereof, and adapted to catch and support said terminalloop when said binding'means is'slack, substantially as described. t

'In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature inpresence of two witnesses.

DAVID MULAUGHLIN. Witnesses:

WELLINGTON "M. BLEWETT, S. H. EOKMAN. 

